The major consulting firm McKinsey & Company will pay $650 million to resolve criminal and civil investigations into its consulting for Purdue Pharma, the company that helped to fuel America’s opioid epidemic through its OxyContin prescription drug.

“First and foremost, at bottom, this is a case about real people,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “This is a case about the thousands and thousands of people who’ve lost their lives to opioid addiction over the last many years.”

The investigation was led by Levy’s office as well as the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Virginia. Both Levy and his Western Virginia counterpart, Christopher Kavanaugh, announced the development in a press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston’s federal courthouse.

“This was not just marketing. It was a strategy. It was executed and it worked. McKinsey’s strategy resulted in prescriptions for OxyContin that were unsafe, medically unnecessary, and lacked a legitimate purpose and were often diverted,” Kavanaugh said at the briefing.

Kavanaugh stressed that the money reached in the five-year deferred prosecution agreement was more than 85 times the amount of money McKinsey earned as a consultant in the “turbocharge” plan to increase OxyContin sales.

“We believe this sends a powerful message to consulting industry going forward,” he said.

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While the sum may send a powerful message, FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen said that “No amount of money can make up for the devastating impact of the heartbreaking loss of life the opioid crisis has inflicted on the people of Massachusetts and this nation.

“But today’s settlement is a reminder that if you capitalize on a crisis by putting profits over patient safety and then try to obstruct a federal investigation, you will pay a hefty price,” she said.

This is a developing story.